my opinion of controls importance is as follows. leaving out the "DUH"s like fire/throttle/turning
absolute essentials, at your fingertips at all times:
primary/secondary select (forward only is sufficient)
countermeasures
equalize shield
target nearest hostile
target nearest attacker
target ship in reticle
afterburner
next priority for stick/throttle mapping:
full shield management
secondary dual firing
target subsystem
cycle turrets/subsystems
target bomb
rear view (other angles much lower priority)
glide/reverse thrust (for mods that use it)
useful on hand but not really a great hindrance on the keyboard:
target escort
target target's attacker
target bomb/bomber
non-critical but still useful commands that may be ideal for mounting on the button panels:
communications shortcuts as you see fit to use, highest value IMO:
- attack/protect/ignore my target
- cover me
energy management
stop targeting ship/subsystem
occasionally useful targeting options:
- last ship to send transmission
- newest ship
obviously, YMMV. these are based off of my playstyle and using x-45 HOTAS with in-game mapping only. you can get more creative if you use programming software with macros, shift modes and such.